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Lawmakers want IRS to probe college bowls' tax status

A bipartisan group of four lawmakers wants the IRS to review the
tax-exempt status of four major college bowl games after a group filed
complaint urging an investigation.

The members of Congress wrote
a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman on Tuesday asking the
agency to review the complaint against the Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl and
Sugar Bowl "and carefully scrutinize these BCS bowls' records to
ascertain if any violations occurred."

PlayoffPAC, a political
group that wants the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) abolished in favor
of a playoff system, filed a complaint
with the IRS late last month. It alleged that the three bowls violated
their tax-exempt status as nonprofits by paying their executives lavish
salaries and offering them special perks such as first-class airfare and
private club dues.

Lawmakers in Congress have pushed for
mandating reforms of the BCS for some time. They argue that the system
is unfair to smaller schools because the BCS's human and computer
ranking system that selects the competitors for the national
championship games is unfairly weighted toward large, big-revenue
schools.

In the early days of his presidency, President Obama
said he prefers a playoff system, but did not say whether he supported
congressional intervention to force the issue.

House Energy
and Commerce Committee ranking member Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Reps.
Gene Green (D-Texas), Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Cynthia
Lummis (R-Wyo.) all signed the letter. All of them represent districts
that include or are near so-called "mid-major" college football
programs.

Barton helped usher anti-BCS legislation through an
Energy and Commerce subcommittee last winter, but the bill was not
taken up by the full committee.

The BCS has argued that Congress
should not involve itself in college sports and that its system upholds
the tradition of college football bowls while providing a decisive
national championship game.